Goddard's 1930 Manned Moonship

Looks a bit like a Apollo CSM; looks even more like a flying dildo:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2010/...g-to-the-moon/
I imagine that unfortunate resemblance was one of the things that turned
Goddard off on the press.
I had serious doubts that he ever built a rocket that reached a speed of
8,000 feet per second, so I checked up on that...the _exhaust velocity_
was 8,000 FPS.

Pat

Talk about taking coals to Newcastle! Using vacuum bottle insulation
to protect astronauts from the cold of space?

Ah, well. He didn't have the benefit of modern research, and, in fact,
perhaps vacuum bottle insulation might actually be a good thing to
have on a space capsule... to protect astronauts from the heat of re-
entry, even as the ablative shielding and aerodynamics protect the
craft itself from being melted.

And, for that matter, there were temperature problems on board Apollo
13, so this might not have been as far-fetched as it seems.

On 8/31/2010 12:26 PM, Quadibloc wrote:
Talk about taking coals to Newcastle! Using vacuum bottle insulation
to protect astronauts from the cold of space?

Ah, well. He didn't have the benefit of modern research, and, in fact,
perhaps vacuum bottle insulation might actually be a good thing to
have on a space capsule... to protect astronauts from the heat of re-
entry, even as the ablative shielding and aerodynamics protect the
craft itself from being melted.

And, for that matter, there were temperature problems on board Apollo
13, so this might not have been as far-fetched as it seems.

Yeah, but this is back in the grand-old-age of vacuum tubes, so once you
get those running, and add the heat of the astronaut's metabolism to the
equation, and things are going to get mighty hot in there in a mighty
big hurry.
I'm still trying to figure out what the windows on the side of the
nosecone are about, as it doesn't look like there's any way for the
astronaut to get up to the front part of the vehicle.
Maybe that's where the cameras are supposed to go?
The concept of shooting something shaped like a giant penis at the
Moon...who is represented in Greco-Roman mythology by the virgin goddess
Diana/Luna, is something Sigmund Freud would have _loved_ to
psychologically analyze.
At least the movie "Flesh Gordon" got the rocketship design right for
attempting this:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...ordon--002.jpg

Pat

On Aug 31, 1:40*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
Looks a bit like a Apollo CSM; looks even more like a flying dildo
:http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2010/...g-to-the-moon/
I imagine that unfortunate resemblance was one of the things that turned
Goddard off on the press.

Did the average person know what a dildo looked like, in 1930? How
old are dildos in the public arena? (The great thing about human
history is how things connect.)

I had serious doubts that he ever built a rocket that reached a speed of
8,000 feet per second, so I checked up on that...the _exhaust velocity_
was 8,000 FPS.

David Clary's biography of Goddard ("Rocket Man") doesn't seem to
report exhaust velocity of any of Goddard's rockets.

I'm always fascinated by this era's approach to cockpit design. My
guess is that the artist was using as a model the Army's balloon
experiments.


Mike

On Sep 1, 2:27*am, Pat Flannery wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out what the windows on the side of the
nosecone are about, as it doesn't look like there's any way for the
astronaut to get up to the front part of the vehicle.
Maybe that's where the cameras are supposed to go?

Or maybe there's a way to go under the instrument panel to get to the
nose. Where's the toilet?

The concept of shooting something shaped like a giant penis at the
Moon...who is represented in Greco-Roman mythology by the virgin goddess
Diana/Luna, is something Sigmund Freud would have _loved_ to
psychologically analyze.

I had a girl friend who commented once that submarines were phallic.
I pointed out to her that anything that needs to penetrate a fluid or
a very flexible solid would be shaped that way. That would have been
a good start had I not been thinking like an engineer and had her
parents not been listening.


Mike

On 9/1/2010 5:30 AM, wrote:
On Aug 31, 1:40 pm, Pat wrote:
Looks a bit like a Apollo CSM; looks even more like a flying dildo
:http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2010/...g-to-the-moon/
I imagine that unfortunate resemblance was one of the things that turned
Goddard off on the press.

Did the average person know what a dildo looked like, in 1930? How
old are dildos in the public arena? (The great thing about human
history is how things connect.)

Clean back to the stone age:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo#History



I had serious doubts that he ever built a rocket that reached a speed of
8,000 feet per second, so I checked up on that...the _exhaust velocity_
was 8,000 FPS.

David Clary's biography of Goddard ("Rocket Man") doesn't seem to
report exhaust velocity of any of Goddard's rockets.


It was from a statement Goddard sent to the Smithsonian in 1916
regarding his work on solid-fueled rockets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_..._sponsors hip



I'm always fascinated by this era's approach to cockpit design. My
guess is that the artist was using as a model the Army's balloon
experiments.

The big prop spaceship that was originally built for the 1930 musical
comedy "Just Imagine" that later showed up in the Flash Gordon serials
probably inspired a lot of copies as to its cockpit layout:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OUbGkSfaKrs/0.jpg
The cockpit on SpaceShipOne looked like something straight out of a
1930's sci-fi movie, and you almost expect to see the breech of the nose
heat ray sticking into the cabin from its front point:
http://gizmodo.com/5141708/photo-of-...-slick-cockpit

Pat

On 9/1/2010 5:34 AM, wrote:
On Sep 1, 2:27 am, Pat wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out what the windows on the side of the
nosecone are about, as it doesn't look like there's any way for the
astronaut to get up to the front part of the vehicle.
Maybe that's where the cameras are supposed to go?

Or maybe there's a way to go under the instrument panel to get to the
nose. Where's the toilet?

I know the details of the Apollo one, but how was that problem addressed
on the longer Gemini flights?

The concept of shooting something shaped like a giant penis at the
Moon...who is represented in Greco-Roman mythology by the virgin goddess
Diana/Luna, is something Sigmund Freud would have _loved_ to
psychologically analyze.

I had a girl friend who commented once that submarines were phallic.
I pointed out to her that anything that needs to penetrate a fluid or
a very flexible solid would be shaped that way. That would have been
a good start had I not been thinking like an engineer and had her
parents not been listening.

Dr. Helen Caldicott made that resemblence one of the main points in her
book "Missile Envy".

Pat

On Sep 2, 2:54*am, Pat Flannery wrote:

Did the average person know what a dildo looked like, in 1930? *How
old are dildos in the public arena? *(The great thing about human
history is how things connect.)

Clean back to the stone age:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo#History

Well, that certainly adds to my store of conversation. (American
Science & Surplus used to sell the penis-molding kit but under another
designation.)

The big prop spaceship that was originally built for the 1930 musical
comedy "Just Imagine" that later showed up in the Flash Gordon serials
probably inspired a lot of copies as to its cockpit layout:http://i.ytimg..com/vi/OUbGkSfaKrs/0.jpg

Is "Just Imagine" a lost movie? I keep seeing stills from it, but
never anything about a copy of it. I bet a dozen could be sold
through this list alone.

The cockpit on SpaceShipOne looked like something straight out of a
1930's sci-fi movie, and you almost expect to see the breech of the nose
heat ray sticking into the cabin from its front point:http://gizmodo.com/5141708/photo-of-...-slick-cockpit

Yes, but it's straight from US patent 2081151 ("Flying Machine"),
1937.


Mike

On Sep 2, 3:11*am, Pat Flannery wrote:

Or maybe there's a way to go under the instrument panel to get to the
nose. *Where's the toilet?

I know the details of the Apollo one, but how was that problem addressed
on the longer Gemini flights?

I have no idea, and I've not seen that references in any of the Gemini
documents I have. To be honest, I admit I've never looked for it.

I had a girl friend who commented once that submarines were phallic.
I pointed out to her that anything that needs to penetrate a fluid or
a very flexible solid would be shaped that way. *That would have been
a good start had I not been thinking like an engineer and had her
parents not been listening.

Dr. Helen Caldicott made that resemblence one of the main points in her
book "Missile Envy".

Women are fascinated by the penis. This is, of course, a Very Good
Thing.


Mike

The Mercury and Gemini astronauts used diapers to go to the bathroom
derived from systems developed for long-duration bomber flights.
Apollo astronauts had bags to collect feces and urine and dumped it
over-board daily. Shuttle and ISS has a proper bathroom for zero gee
and sponge baths. On Star Trek they go where no one has gone before.

I have given some thought about a modified mechanical counter-pressure
suit that has a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) based jumpsuit
- that cleans, hydrates, oils and otherwise takes care of all bodily
functions - including sweat and hair growth.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...NWG-0KM0zoqaNQ

These suits would be built for extremely long duration - perhaps
several years - minimizing the mass of transporting astronauts between
worlds.